Discovering the hanging of The Lady and the Unicorn and the art surrounding it as seen from ancient chests… This is what the Musée de Cluny proposes us with the exhibition “Mystérieux Coffrets: Estampes au temps de la Dame à la Licorne” [Mysterious Chests: Engravings at the age of The Lady and the Unicorn] running from September 18, 2019 to January 6, 2020. A retrospective taking us art and history lovers on the path of Jean d’Ypres, the painter who painted “the studies of the famous hanging and according to which many engravings adorning some strange chests have been made” as the museum states.

All in all, about a quarter of the 140 chests existing in the world are exhibited here. The exhibition offers here to look at the engravings made by the painter, stuck inside the chests. Those are made of beech, covered in leather, decked out with iron and are all endowed with locks with a secret mechanism. These engravings, colored with stencils, sometimes create themed series around religion.

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A mysterious object that surely had some part to play in the devotion to Paris and France in the 1500’s and visitors are invited to discover the find all the secrets. In addition to these chests, engravings, tapestries, stained-glass windows, printed books and other documents are also displayed in order to grasp the context of that age. Another goal? Offering food for thoughts about the possible uses of such an item. The occasion to dive into the history of France in an essential period of art… Let’s go, friends, shall we?